The Other
by Delgado
Summary: Mysterious deaths and old enemies...Fear reigns within Torchwood. No one is safe...
1. Problem

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TORCHWOOD 

"Come on Jack!", Gwen's voice called out.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming", Jack sighed and walked to catch up with the rest of the team. Ianto had insisted that they spend more time together and dragged them all off for lunch, forcing Jack to take a break from working.

Jack didn't know where they were heading, and probably didn't want to as he trailed after the others. His eyes wondered to the floor where an unmistakably wet copy of the morning local paper lay in a dried up puddle. He glanced once at it and stopped abruptly when he saw the front page.

"Keep up Harkness, or are you not as young as you used to be!", Owen teased.

"I think we should cancel lunch", he replied slowly, his eyes not moving.

"Now, now Jack, don't be a spoilsport…", Gwen joined in as she stood at Owen's side. She walked up behind Jack and made to push him forwards, when she looked down to see what was so interesting about the floor; "Actually, I agree with Jack", she said quickly.

"You know what?…", Owen was getting frustrated; "You two are bloody useless! Even I said I'd come, I…"

"…Need to find a paper shop", Jack concluded.

Owen gave him an incredulous look; "Have you finally lost your mind!?", Jack ran past him to the nearest shop. "Gwen, please tell me what's going on!", he looked hopefully to his colleague, but she had a distant look in her eyes; almost fear and wasn't paying any attention to him whatsoever, Owen groaned and ran off after the Captain. Tosh and Ianto had evidently got tired of waiting and gone for lunch without them.

Owen spotted Jack in a nearby shop and went to join him; "Now, you bloody tell me what's going on!" Jack didn't reply and instead showed him the headline on the paper he had bought. Owen stared; "What!…I thought?… "

"So did I", Jack had been thinking the same thing; "Find the others…", he directed at Owen; "…we've got a new Class A case".

…**TO BE CONTINUED**

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW, ALL COMMENTS MUCH APPRECIATED, THANKS!


	2. Fear

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TORCHWOOD 

Jack paced the hub, trying to think, Owen sat reading the newspaper over and over again, Gwen sat twirling a pen between her fingers in her own distant world, Tosh was researching the facts in the article and Ianto, as always was busying himself with coffee.

"Brilliant…bloody brilliant!", Owen sighed, worried; "What on earth do we do about this?! We had a hard enough job with the last one…"

"We've only got what it says here…", Jack pointed to the article; "We start by finding him, he must know something", his finger rested on the man in the picture.

"Come on Gwen…"

"Huh?", she looked up out of her daydreams or should she say, nightmares.

"We're gonna go and track this guy down, come on!", Owen practically dragged her off her seat and out of the hub, into the SUV.

She tried to shake the thoughts from her head, but they were more than just _thoughts, _they were memories. Her last encounter with this threat had been terrifying, almost fatal and she had no intention of meeting it again.

Yet something carried her on, she could have stopped and simply refused to go and see this man, but part of her had to go, just to see…

The team arrived at their destination, a normal street, a normal house, the residents blissfully unaware of the danger that lurked there…

Jack knocked on the door; "Number 13…", he mused; "Well, it's his lucky day…", the door opened to reveal the man they had been looking for; "Martin Rudd?".

"Yes?", he looked suspiciously at the three people stood at his front door.

Jack held up the newspaper; "Can we have a word?"

TO BE CONTINUED… 

Can anybody guess what the mystery article is about? I'm sorry for being evil and keeping you all in suspense, you'll find out next chapter…

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW, ALL COMMETNS MUCH APPRECIATED, THANKS!


	3. The Worst Kind Of Power

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TORCHWOOD** "**Alien glove auctions at record price** A local Cardiff man bought this 'alien' artefact for a staggering £20,000…" 

The article went on to describe the previous owner and its supposed origin as the paper hung from Jack's hand.

"Who are you people?".

"Police", Jack quickly flashed his ID as the man at the door stood looking dumbfounded as the Torchwood team strode past him and into his kitchen.

"Holy…", Owen looked amazed as he stepped into the room, gazing at all the gadgets and odd-looking specimens littering the table and worktops.

"Someone's got a hobby…", Jack managed to look worried and amused at the same time as he too, surveyed the collection.

"Where did you get all this?", Tosh looked at him suspiciously, she could see that at least half of it was extraterrestrial just by looking at it.

"Bought it…", he answered quickly; "…More auctions".

To Gwen, something didn't add up. The man lived in a tiny house, and apart from the strange artefacts in the room, didn't seem to have anything else of value; "Do you have a job?"

"Work for the council, pest control", he answered, more truthfully this time.

"Right", that kind of work wouldn't be paid very highly, maybe just enough to pay his mortgage, but definitely not enough to fund the mans expensive hobbies.

Jack had apparently been thinking that same thing; "You know, you have some really dangerous stuff here…and you look like you could use some redecorating", he added as he eyed the chipped paint and flaky doors. "We can buy this stuff off you, we'll give a good price…"

"No way, I've spent the best part of twenty years collecting this, and I'm not about to give it up…police or not".

Jack could tell that Martin Rudd was not going to budge through the tone of his voice.

"Okay, well, thanks for your time", Jack said, unusually calm. He eyed the glove one last time and headed out of the door, the rest of the team following behind him.

2 Days Later 

The SUV parked up outside the house and the team casually walked through the police tape surrounding the front door.

They all stood over the victim with puzzled yet worried looks on their faces; "Owen, what do you think?". He crouched down to get a better look at the body, checking for the obvious signs.

"I'm not sure…there are no signs of a struggle, no wounds, no bruising, cuts, nothing… asides from the obvious…", he gestured to the victim's head, where there was a large burn mark straight across his face that had interested the Torchwood team; "…It's a big burn, but definitely not fatal".

"What about strangulation?", asked Jack, almost hopefully.

"No, there would have to be some sort of bruising around the neck".

"Hmm…well, take what you need…we have to find out how he died, we'll search the house".

"Jack?", Tosh called him into a spare bedroom.

"What've you got?..Woah…" he stopped at the sight. He was another collector by the looks of it; "Shares the same interests as Mr Rudd then", he observed; "We need to bag all this stuff up…"

"Not good news Jack, I can't identify a cause of death", Owen had finished his various tests.

"Great, and Tosh says that some of this stuff we found is definitely extra-terrestrial or it came through the Rift".

Gwen entered the Hub looking uneasy; "We've had another death, and he's no stranger…"

"I'll take one guess at the cause of death", Jack pointed to the floor where the glove still resided on the man's hand; "Well…we did warn him", he bent down to look at the burn on his face and matched the glove to the mark made; "Perfect match".

"Let's get this stuff back to the Hub", the team immediately made themselves busy, gathering every piece of alien technology and putting it all into the SUV.

Jack stood outside the front door, in the garden, the glove in his hand, a thousand thoughts spinning around in his mind. He vividly remembered the last time they had encountered a glove…Suzie had come back to life…Gwen had nearly died…

If that glove had given life, maybe this was its brother…maybe this one took life away…it would certainly give an explanation for the mystery deaths of the two men.

Jack bent down and looked at the flowers in the garden, so full of life, and then looked at the glove before reaching out…

…Those petals, yellow, bright and happy, went grey and shrivelled down to the stem, which crumpled and wilted to the ground…lifeless.

"Jack?" He got up off his knees and faced Gwen; "We're ready to go", she eyed the glove nervously, which didn't surprise him, considering her previous encounter with its counterpart.

"Ok, put that in with the other stuff will you?" he held out the glove. Gwen hesitated before taking it apprehensively, the fear evident in her eyes.

Jack had done that on purpose, he didn't believe in keeping your fears locked up inside you, we all have to confront them sooner or later; and sooner was better than later in his eyes.

"Maybe…" Jack sat at his desk, the glove in his hand, carelessly waving it around trying to come up with possible explanations for the day's events. Gwen sat opposite him, also deep in thought.

"I don't understand why he killed that other man, why would he?"

"I don't know, I mean there was no connection between them", Jack answered truthfully; "As far as we know, they have never even met before…"

They sat in silence again until Jack came up with another idea; "If we go on what we've already got, they were both single, lived alone, mid to late 50's…nothing significant except…"

"…Their hobbies", Gwen finished; "…What if this other man had something valuable that Rudd wanted?"

"Possibly, but it doesn't explain his own death…"

"Wait…remember what Suzie said?"; Jack looked confused, "She said she did it 'for the _glove'_…".

"…So if that glove was controlling her, then maybe this glove was controlling Rudd".

"Exactly…but why would it want to control him, what was it after?"

Jack's mind was still revolving around the case with Suzie; "The other one…it was trying to get to the _other_ glove…gloves are meant to be together; in _pairs…_it couldn't find it straight away so it went looking for the closest thing to it; other alien objects…", by this time, they had both wandered out of Jack's office and down to the lab.

"…And it just so happened that this other guy was the nearest source…and it killed its owner because…" Gwen faltered slightly trying to tie up the loose end.

Jack did it for her; "…Because he realised what he had done; what it had _made_ him do and tried to get rid of it. The glove 'felt' threatened and defended itself – it killed him".

"But how does it kill?"

"I don't know…let's find out…", he slipped the glove onto his hand and reached out for his own chest.

"Jack!", Gwen stopped him; "You might be immortal, but you can't just go around killing yourself for the sake of it".

"You asked a question and I'm going to find the answer…why? Would you rather I tried it out on you?"

"I…", Gwen knew that it was a lost cause; "…Fine", she stood back and Jack took a deep breath before holding the gloved hand to his chest.

He removed the hand and waited, before his breathing became shallow and laboured and he struggled to maintain his balance before doubling over and crashing to his knees. Fighting for breath, he finally collapsed on to the floor and remained motionless.

Gwen let out a long breath, it was still frightening, watching him die like that, even though she knew full well that he would wake up again as if nothing had happened…

The twitching of Jack's foot, signalled that he was alive and breathing again and Gwen bent down to him; "Jack?"

She jumped back slightly when Jack's eyes flew open. He gasped loudly and reached for the nearest thing to him. He clung to Gwen as he sucked in the air, but she failed to see the look of fear on his face as he pulled back and looked her straight in the eye.

"Jack, what's wrong?"

He pushed her away and then she realised…

"Jack?", she said worriedly as she glanced at his left hand in horror.

"Oh God…Owen!", he could feel his heart thumping at a thousand times a second as he stared at Gwen.

"What? What have you done now?!", he came stomping down the stairs and his expression immediately changed when he saw the looks on their faces.

He saw Jack glance at the glove and then back at Gwen, "Oh no…", he rushed over to his medical cabinet, frantically searching for something.

"Look though…", Gwen said shakily; "I'm absolutely…", at that moment she almost collapsed, clutching her chest; "I…can't…", she staggered around, almost knocking the table over before her legs gave way and she fell to her knees. The last thing she saw was a figure dashing towards her; "Jack…"

"GWEN!"

…TO BE CONTINUED

**YET MORE CLIFFHANGERS I KNOW, SORRY**

_**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW, ALL COMMENTS MUCH APPRECIATED, THANKS!**_


	4. Indestructible

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TORCHWOOD

**First of all, I would like to apologise for my incompetence, I'm really sorry about the wait for the update, so I hope it's worth it!**

Gwen's eyes flicked up in recognition of the voice; "Owen…". She murmured before she could no longer support herself and collapsed forwards.

Owen dashed across to catch her before she fell; "No…", he turned her over and laid her on the floor, frantically pumping away at her chest; "No, no, no…come on…", he scrabbled to put two fingers to her neck…

Jack still knelt on the floor in the same position, the arm with the glove on still raised, he looked horrified with himself; "I killed her…", he muttered as Owen still fought his lost cause; "I…", he looked hopelessly to Owen as tears welled in his eyes; "One of my own team…innocent…", he shook his head in disbelief as if he expected to wake up at any minute.

Tosh and Ianto appeared on the stairs; "What's all the noise about?". Tosh asked before registering the sight before them.

"Jack?", Ianto looked fearfully at the emotional leader.

"Oh God…", Tosh scrambled over to them; "Gwen…", she noticed the red handprint on her arm.

"She wasn't meant to…I couldn't…", Jack looked at them helplessly, Owen still remained speechless as he moved aside, to replace a discarded vial of liquid in his cabinet.

Ianto remained unusually unemotional as he knelt down beside Gwen's still form, he even looked slightly confused at the reactions of the others.

"I wouldn't count your chickens too early Sir…", Jack looked up with a blank look on his face; "…She's not dead Jack", he continued as if it was common knowledge.

"What…"

"Look, Ianto…", Owen spoke up; "I'm a Doctor…"

"Don't Doctors recognise a pulse anymore?"

"What?", Owen was still trying to register what Ianto was saying.

"She has a pulse Owen", Ianto made it clear for him.

"What?", he repeated and strode over to Gwen's body, putting his fingers to her neck. His eyes froze and he jumped back; "That's impossible…"

"Owen?", Tosh looked at him uncertainly.

"She's alive…", he looked at Jack and glanced at the glove; "…But…she was gone…"

"Ok…", Jack tried to regain his composure and hide his emotions; "Owen? Get her back with us ….", he turned to the rest of the team; "…we need to destroy this glove".

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Owen?", Tosh called; "Link Gwen up to the computer, I have to find out how she did that…"

"I'm on it".

"Ianto, with me…", Jack headed for the stairs and Ianto willingly followed him down to the shooting range.

Jack carefully slid the glove off his hand and handed it to Ianto, who had guessed what to do with it as he walked to the far end of the range and placed it on one of the stands.

Jack unlocked the weapons storage compartment and took out his selected gun – a standard issue Browning HP MK1, used by the British army, it wasn't intended for light-hearted fights.

Ianto quickly moved out of the way as Jack loaded the magazine; "Good riddance…", he muttered before aiming and squeezing off a shot. 

The bullet soared through the air, but nothing prepared Jack for the sound of ringing metal as he instinctively ducked down. He glanced up again to see Ianto's worried look as he followed his gaze towards the still standing glove.

"Not even a scratch…", Ianto commented.

Jack raised the gun again in fury and fired off the twelve remaining shots, each one pinging off the surface and hitting the wall behind. He put his hand to his head in frustration; "How is this happening!", he turned to Ianto; "Fetch the explosive", he asked calmly.

"Sir", Ianto, composed as usual didn't question him and returned moments later with a small package and a timer of sorts.

Jack accepted it off Ianto and proceeded to fiddle with the timer wire and dial. He placed it beside the glove and walked back to the other end of the range next to Ianto where he counted out loud;"7…6…5…4…3…2…1…"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The noise thundered around the room as both Jack and Ianto ducked for cover. Jack raised his head to see the glove still intact with no indication of damage. "That's impossible…"

"Jack?", Tosh yelled down the stairs.

"Yeah?"

"What is all that noise about?"

"I'll explain in a minute…what's up?"

"I think you should take a look at this…", she gestured upstairs. Jack glanced at Ianto and followed Tosh.

On the next floor, Jack could see Gwen, thankfully sat upright and seeming fine and he also spotted the wires stuck to each side of her head which ran straight into the back of Tosh's computer.

"I've partially analysed Gwen's body…", she continued; "…And…well…take a look yourself…", she twisted the monitor around so that Jack could see and his eyes widened at the sight. "As you can see, the energy levels inside her body are _way_ too big…"

"Well?", Jack urged her on.

"You remember when the other glove fed off Gwen's life energy?"

"Yeah…"

"I think that it transferred some of its _own_ into her – it left residual energy inside her when it was destroyed".

"Oh boy…", Jack ran a hand through his hair and looked at the figure that was Gwen, managing a small smile. "Where's Owen?", he suddenly noticed the missing doctor. Tosh nodded down the stairs from which they had just come, he must have slipped down while they were occupied.

"Owen!", Jack shouted as he made his way back down the stairs. 

"What?"

"We can't destroy it…", he said simply.

"I gathered that…from what I heard".

"Next thing, how do we get rid of this 'energy' inside Gwen?"

"All I know is that it is very powerful – too powerful to be just 'set free', and it's not something we can just store up in a box…"

Jack sighed loudly and glanced around, running another hand through his hair. His gaze stopped on the glove, which stood innocently at the far end of the room.

"The glove…", he murmured, and turned, going back the way he came; "Tosh…this 'energy'…could we harness it?"

"What do you mean?", she eyed him suspiciously.

"We have an indestructible glove down there…"

Gwen almost laughed as she looked between the two; "You think that you're wiring me up to that thing?", she sincerely hoped that Jack was joking.

Jack looked towards Tosh; "Well, would it work?"

"Well…", she started hesitantly; "If this glove was originally paired with the other one, then they should have had equal energy distribution between them - so they're as powerful as each other…but coupled with a small amount of Gwen's own energy, it should be enough to destroy it".

"No way…", Gwen interrupted them; "…I can't…not after what happened last time…", she walked off, down to the shooting range.

"Gwen…", Jack called after her and followed. He came into view just as she picked up the Browning that Jack had left and reloaded it.

The Captain watched regretfully as she squeezed off every last round, each having the same effect as the first time around; "I told you…indestructible".

"But…", she was getting panicky now; "It can't be, I mean, there's got to be something we can do, there's got to be another way!"

"Gwen, listen to me…", he put his hands on her shoulders; "…There isn't anything we do, except…"

"Except what?", she asked hopefully.

"We throw it into the Rift…just throw it away…", he looked into her eyes; "…Send it to a day that's dead and gone or to the future, a hundred thousand years away…leave it for someone else to deal with…", he kept looking straight at her and saw compassion shining through, that compassion he loved so much…

"Okay…okay", Gwen knew that she couldn't just leave someone to suffer at her hands – it was wrong; "What do I have to do?"

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW, ALL COMMENTS MUCH APPRECIATED, THANKS!

Once again, BIG BIG apologies for not updating sooner, I'll punish myself later…


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